At Least 500,000 Turks Homeless

August 27, 1999

Millions gathered at mosques across Turkey on Friday to offer solemn funeral prayers for the more than 13,000 killed by last week's earthquake, and the government acknowledged the number left homeless could top half a million. As the enormous scope of the refugee crisis became clear, the government moved to assert greater authority in coping with quake-related emergencies. Just before heading into a recess, parliament approved a measure allowing the government to impose decrees for the next three months to deal with the quake's aftermath. The government said Friday it had frozen the bank accounts of two Muslim organizations that have been active in quake-relief efforts, saying they had not gotten the proper authorization for their financial transactions.